Thill-coupling



J. 1-". O. RIDER. Thill Coupling,

No. 288,805. Patenfed Oct. 26,1880.

I ll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. O. RIDER, OF SOUTH NEW MARKET, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,805, dated October 26, 1880.

Application filed October 16, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN F. O. RIDER, of South New Market, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Oouplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of devices employed for the purpose of connecting thills or poles to the axles of carriages, commonly called thill-couplings, the object being to simplify the construction of the devices used in preventing noise or rattling, and thereby cheapen the article, while its full efficiency is retained; and the invention consists in the construction and arrangement of a spring of peculiar form, held in place by the bolt which connects the thill-eye and axleclip, and bearing against the under side of the end of the thill-eye in such a manner as to prevent all shake or rattle of the parts in moving, as will be hereinafter fully described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of an axle-clip and thill-eye connected and provided with the spring for preventing rattle. Fig. 2 shows the clip attached to an axle, with a vertical transverse section of the joint by which it is united with the thill-eye. Fig. 3 is a side view, illustrating the manner in which the end of the spring bears upon the thill-eye.

The axle, which is of the ordinary form, is represented in Fig. 2 of the drawings by the letter A. Surrounding this axle is seen the clip B, secured thereto by the plate 0 and nuts a a, screwed upon the ends of the downwardlyprojecting tangs of the clip, in the usual manner.

The clip-ears b 1) project forward from the body of the clip and receive between them the thill-eye D, where it is secured by the bolt E passing through it and both ears of the clip, and secured by the nut c.

The parts above named are all constructed and arranged in the usual manner, being all that is necessary to connect the thills to the axle; but if .left in this condition the wear of the parts forming the joint causes it to become so loose as to rattle, making a very disagreeable noise, calculated not only to disturb the occupants of the carriage, but to frighten horses of a nervous temperament. In order to obviate this difficulty I employ the curved plate-spring F, which is secured to the clip by the bolt E, the free end (I of the spring being curved to suit the rounded end of the thilleye, and is thus made to retain its position while bearing firmly against the under side of the eye, as shown in Fig. 2. The pressure of this spring keeps the parts of the device form ing the joint always in contact with each other, so that rattling is wholly prevented, while the flexibility of the joint remains unimpaired. It

will be apparent that this spring may be ap- 7o plied to any thill-coupling of ordinary construction Without changing the form of any of its parts, it being only necessary to remove the coupling-bolt, slip the spring on the same,

and screw up the not 0 until the desired tension of spring is reached, or the bolt-head brings the spring and clip-ear in contact. This device will therefore be found not only useful in the construction of new carriages, but also in preventing noise and rattling in those already in use.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, the following:

1. In a thill-coupling for carriages, the curved forth. 9o

2. In a thill-couplin g, the curved spring F, passing transversely under the thill-eye and provided with the concave free end cl, for retaining it in position upon the thill-eye, as set forth.

have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN F. G. RIDER.

Witnesses:

W. J. QUINN, JAMES E. BoWE.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I 

